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Over a century in the past, J.P. Morgan constructed an impressive library for his opulent mansion in Midtown Manhattan. After his loss of life, his son, the financier Jack Morgan, opened it to the general public in 1924, and it will definitely turned the Morgan Library & Museum. Last evening, crowds of artwork patrons and well-heeled bibliophiles gathered in that grand library to attend the Morgan’s centennial celebration.
Beneath stained glass home windows and murals of Dante and Socrates, company carrying tuxedos sipped martinis whereas a violinist carried out classical covers of pop songs by Keane and Taylor Swift. Servers wended by means of the group, carrying hors d’oeuvres trays of crescent duck and caviar as they handed cabinets lined with uncommon editions of works by Rousseau and Voltaire.
Devotees of the Morgan just like the architect Peter Marino, the artwork seller Vito Schnabel and the artist Walton Ford had been in attendance. Patti Smith and her daughter, Jesse Paris Smith, who would quickly carry out a music collectively on the night’s dinner, pulled away from the cocktail hour to walk by means of the exhibit “Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature,” which shows the manuscripts and movie letters of the creator of Peter Rabbit and Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.
“Through her ephemera, you may really feel Potter taking a look at her paint brushes,” Patti Smith mentioned. “The Morgan’s assortment honors the hand that writes the e book. You get a way of what an artist or author was considering as they had been creating. You can see the vitality lifting off Beethoven’s ink-splotched pages.”
Mr. Schnabel remembered a boyhood go to to the Morgan.
“When I used to be a boy, Rene Ricard introduced me to see drawings right here, so the Morgan has at all times been pricey to my coronary heart,” he mentioned. “To me, the Morgan is a New York gem.”
Peter Pennoyer, an architect and a great-great-grandson of J.P. Morgan, stood beside a show case containing an unique copy of the Gutenberg Bible.
“My grandmother used to run round right here as just a little lady,” he mentioned.
Guests quickly sat for dinner in Gilbert Court, a modernistic pavilion designed by Renzo Piano. As they ate beet salad with feta cheese, Lawrence R. Ricciardi, the Morgan’s board president, introduced a $10 million reward from Katharine Rayner, the media and automotive heiress.
Colin B. Bailey, the Morgan’s director, spoke subsequent and was adopted by a efficiency from Latonia Moore, the opera soprano. Ms. Smith then took the stage to learn a poem by Emily Dickinson, and she or he sang a model of her music “Wing,” accompanied on the piano by her daughter.
Mr. Marino, who wore rings of silver eagles on his hand, completed his Tahitian panna cotta as dinner got here to an finish. “The current Tiepolo exhibit right here was off the charts,” he mentioned. “The Morgan is likely to be smaller than the large New York museums, however to me it has extra humanity than all of them mixed.”
Back within the grand library, the night’s after-party was about to begin. A D.J. started spinning dance hits close to a three-foot decorative cake that resembled a stack of uncommon Victorian and Medieval e book bindings. Taking the ground as soon as extra, Ms. Smith led the group in music.
“Happy birthday, pricey Morgan Library,” she sang. “Happy birthday to you.”
